Practical Potwatcher: Columbus Day is a grand excuse to celebrate with food favorites

Wednesday

Oct 3, 2018 at 5:00 AM

Columbus Day is being observed October 8 this year. That’s next Monday, and it’s a good time to start warming up for the Celebrate-With-Food Season that finishes up the year.

Of course, October also brings us Halloween and trick-or-treaters and the appearance in local markets of great, huge pumpkins, waiting to be carved into Jack- o’- lanterns. Then we have harvest festivals cropping up here and there, just to get us into the proper spirit for November, and Thanksgiving.

With all that going on, it’s not surprising that most people think of Columbus Day primarily as a day when the banks and libraries are closed. But if you’re a chocoholic, or one of the health-food crowd who has recently discovered the glories of that high-protein grain, quinoa, or a busy mother who simply couldn’t face life without peanut butter, then Columbus Day deserves a bit more notice.

After all, Columbus Day marks the discovery of the New World, and while the New World’s early explorers may have been more interested in gold and silver, the opening of the Western Hemisphere brought the world a whole host of new and wonderful foods.

Consequently, you’re fully justified in treating yourself to an extra bar of your favorite dark chocolate in celebration of Columbus Day. Or if you’re feeling expansive, get a pint of the best vanilla ice cream to go with that dark chocolate – remember, the vanilla orchid was one of the culinary treasures of the New World, and chocolate and vanilla go together.

Never mind the calorie count. You can make up for your Monday indulgence by nibbling super-low-calorie popcorn all day Tuesday. What in the world would waistline-watchers do without the aid and comfort of popcorn? Think of it as sneaking in an extra day of celebration.

Perhaps you’re a kids-in-the-kitchen sort of mom. In that case, this is a good time to teach those kids the intricacies of making peanut butter cookies.

(Yeah – you knew about the corn and the pumpkins that helped make life livable for the Pilgrim Fathers, but I’ll bet you didn’t know about peanuts.) Seems that peanuts were one of the native foods the conquistadores discovered in South America. In fact, the oldest known archaeological remains of peanuts – more than 7,000 years old -- were found in Peru.

Of course, if you’re more the fast foods type, you and the kids can observe the occasion with an extra helping of French fries. The potato is another of our fantastic New World foods.

But my favorite among the food gifts of the New World is the pecan. Pecans were first found in the Mississippi Valley, and were planted at Mount Vernon not long before that famous midnight ride of Paul Revere.

The best way to eat pecans is raw, or toasted gently with a tiny bit of butter. However, the best celebrations are shared, and if you’re going to share pecans, you need to make them go further.

Here’s an old recipe for a crustless pecan pie that I found in a booklet distributed by a Georgia farm.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter pie pan heavily and set aside.Beat egg whites with baking powder until stiff. Add sugar slowly, continuing to beat. Fold in cracker crumbs, pecans, and vanilla. Pour into pie pan. Bake 30 minutes. Cool one hour, and serve topped with unsweetened whipped cream.Similar recipes use from half a cup to a whole cup of pecans; some list Graham cracker crumbs instead of Ritz crackers, and at least one recommends half a cup of chopped dates, to be mixed with the crumbs and nuts and folded in.There are all sorts of variations for the topping, too: whipped cream, nondairy whipped topping, or ice cream, ground nuts, cherries, or chocolate curls all have their supporters.For a make-ahead project, refrigerate until just before serving, and add toppings at the last minute.

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